Indiana University Athletics
GRAHAM: Hoosiers Take First B1G War
12/2/2018 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Get used to it, Hoosier fans.
Indiana's terrific 68-66 victory Saturday over Northwestern, the Big Ten opener, was almost certainly a harbinger.
The league has zero bad men's basketball teams this season. Early results have pretty clearly revealed that. Not only are there no "gimme" games, every conference contest might well seem akin to pulling teeth.
Saturday's certainly did.
Northwestern came in 6-1, fresh off a Big Ten/ACC Challenge win over Georgia Tech, and severely tested the host Hoosiers from start to finish.
There were 14 lead changes and 15 ties. Neither team led by more than five points. Neither team had more than a seven-point run. Every possession loomed large.
NU pivotman Dererk Pardon was a force on both ends, finishing with a game-high 24 points (on 11-of-15 shooting) and a team-high 10 boards.
But Indiana prevailed. And it was a great IU win not just because it was a quality college basketball game, not just because it remains crucial that Indiana defends home court, but because of how the Hoosiers won it.
Juwan Morgan – Indiana's inspirational senior leader who had already supplied a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 12 boards – was sprawled on the court in obvious pain with 3:30 left in the game.
Morgan appeared to take a knee bump during an earlier Pardon lane move, and that seemed exacerbated when Morgan's right leg was struck on a Vic Law cut through the lane.
When Morgan was helped off the court, it was pretty obvious he was exiting the game for good. And Indiana was down, 61-58.
But Morgan isn't IU's scoring leader this season. Freshman guard Romeo Langford is. Langford knew he had to step up. Nobody had to tell him. He said, post-game, it was unspoken but understood.
Not only did Langford hit probably the biggest bucket of the game – a pretty 12-foot floater in the lane off a fine screen from De'Ron Davis – that gave Indiana the lead, for good it turned out, at 67-65 with 0:39 left.
It was the very definition of a clutch shot. It was pretty. It pelted twine. No rim needed.
And then Langford (who had already blocked a Law shot with 2:46 left) came up huge again as a defender.
Northwestern's A.J. Turner tried to find fifth-year senior star Law, the Wildcat scoring leader all season, down low. Langford, alert and blessed with tremendous reach, got a hand on the pass and knocked the ball off Law out-of-bounds.
"Yeah, out of a timeout, they went in to try to post me up," Langford recalled, "and I just was able to get around the screen and get a hand on the ball. And he was the last one to touch it. That was a big momentum change in the game."
So IU got the ball back at the 0:32 mark. Northwestern pressed, but Indiana beautifully broke it for a Justin Smith layup that allowed the Hoosiers to survive Law's 25-foot banked-in 3 at the 0:03.9 mark.
"They put five people in the front court, to try to pressure the ball," Smith said of the Wildcat press. "We ran a lot of press break, and I was open down the floor, and Rob (Phinisee) got me the ball."
Langford would finish with a team-high 20 points, hitting 8-of-13 shots from the field and all three of his free throws, while adding five boards, two steals and a pair of shot-blocks
"Romeo is a unique guy," IU coach Archie Miller said. "As high-caliber of a recruit as he was and as hyped as he is, he's even a better person. The guy's absolutely a heck of a guy to be around every day. He works hard. Doesn't say much. Continues to get better.
"Had his best all-around game tonight without question offensively and defensively. But he's a guy that just goes about things his own way. So he's easy to cheer for."
Lots of Hoosiers gave the home crowd reason to cheer down the stretch. To cite a prime example:
Zach McRoberts went into a full-out dive when an errant pass looked destined to sail out-of-bounds with 8:30 left. He got enough of a hand on the ball to save it and, 10 seconds later, Langford buried a crucial 3.
So that was a turnover turned into a trey.
And Indiana, a team plagued by turnovers in recent games, finished with 13 Saturday – but made only two in the final 15 minutes, and none in the final 7:08.
Pardon showed off his superb footwork in the lane to beat the shot-clock for a bucket that put his team up by a point with 4:05 left – but that was the last time he would score.
"He's very skilled at finishing around the basket," IU's Justin Smith said of Pardon. "He made a lot of quick moves that I feel like caught whoever was guarding him off guard a little bit.
"And the way that they played, they left everybody off the baseline so it gives them a lot of room down low to be able to work and make a move and score the ball."
But even without Morgan patrolling the paint defensively for the final 3:30, the Hoosiers managed to shut Pardon down. IU 6-foot-10 junior Davis was a big reason why.
Not for the first time this season, Indiana's continued free throw woes looked potentially fatal in the closing minutes, but that didn't stop Smith from stepping up to hit both ends of a bonus to tie the game with 5:33 left.
The Hoosiers shot a robust .551 from the field and just found a way to do what needed done.
"For our guys to find a way to win a game in December, a conference game that's fought that hard, is a good thing," Miller said, "especially coming off a loss on Tuesday (at Duke).
"We go to Penn State on Tuesday and that's going to be very, very difficult. And I just can't imagine playing in this league in January and February. I just don't see a team that's not very good.
"So, for us, we've got one in the bag and we're happy about it, and we're going to try to get recovered and prepared the best we can and go on the road on Tuesday."
Smith is a sophomore, just entering his second conference campaign, but he already knows what is in store.
"This year the Big Ten … definitely has a lot of very good teams," Smith said. "Probably pretty much all the teams are very good, can win a game on any given night. It's going to be a dogfight every night, but we're ready for it."
They were Saturday.
They'll have to be throughout the entire Big Ten slate.
With 20 league games on tap per team this season, too, up from 18 in previous years.
Get used to it, Hoosier fans.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Get used to it, Hoosier fans.
Indiana's terrific 68-66 victory Saturday over Northwestern, the Big Ten opener, was almost certainly a harbinger.
The league has zero bad men's basketball teams this season. Early results have pretty clearly revealed that. Not only are there no "gimme" games, every conference contest might well seem akin to pulling teeth.
Saturday's certainly did.
Northwestern came in 6-1, fresh off a Big Ten/ACC Challenge win over Georgia Tech, and severely tested the host Hoosiers from start to finish.
There were 14 lead changes and 15 ties. Neither team led by more than five points. Neither team had more than a seven-point run. Every possession loomed large.
NU pivotman Dererk Pardon was a force on both ends, finishing with a game-high 24 points (on 11-of-15 shooting) and a team-high 10 boards.
But Indiana prevailed. And it was a great IU win not just because it was a quality college basketball game, not just because it remains crucial that Indiana defends home court, but because of how the Hoosiers won it.
Juwan Morgan – Indiana's inspirational senior leader who had already supplied a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 12 boards – was sprawled on the court in obvious pain with 3:30 left in the game.
Morgan appeared to take a knee bump during an earlier Pardon lane move, and that seemed exacerbated when Morgan's right leg was struck on a Vic Law cut through the lane.
When Morgan was helped off the court, it was pretty obvious he was exiting the game for good. And Indiana was down, 61-58.
But Morgan isn't IU's scoring leader this season. Freshman guard Romeo Langford is. Langford knew he had to step up. Nobody had to tell him. He said, post-game, it was unspoken but understood.
Not only did Langford hit probably the biggest bucket of the game – a pretty 12-foot floater in the lane off a fine screen from De'Ron Davis – that gave Indiana the lead, for good it turned out, at 67-65 with 0:39 left.
It was the very definition of a clutch shot. It was pretty. It pelted twine. No rim needed.
And then Langford (who had already blocked a Law shot with 2:46 left) came up huge again as a defender.
Northwestern's A.J. Turner tried to find fifth-year senior star Law, the Wildcat scoring leader all season, down low. Langford, alert and blessed with tremendous reach, got a hand on the pass and knocked the ball off Law out-of-bounds.
"Yeah, out of a timeout, they went in to try to post me up," Langford recalled, "and I just was able to get around the screen and get a hand on the ball. And he was the last one to touch it. That was a big momentum change in the game."
So IU got the ball back at the 0:32 mark. Northwestern pressed, but Indiana beautifully broke it for a Justin Smith layup that allowed the Hoosiers to survive Law's 25-foot banked-in 3 at the 0:03.9 mark.
"They put five people in the front court, to try to pressure the ball," Smith said of the Wildcat press. "We ran a lot of press break, and I was open down the floor, and Rob (Phinisee) got me the ball."
Langford would finish with a team-high 20 points, hitting 8-of-13 shots from the field and all three of his free throws, while adding five boards, two steals and a pair of shot-blocks
"Romeo is a unique guy," IU coach Archie Miller said. "As high-caliber of a recruit as he was and as hyped as he is, he's even a better person. The guy's absolutely a heck of a guy to be around every day. He works hard. Doesn't say much. Continues to get better.
"Had his best all-around game tonight without question offensively and defensively. But he's a guy that just goes about things his own way. So he's easy to cheer for."
Lots of Hoosiers gave the home crowd reason to cheer down the stretch. To cite a prime example:
Zach McRoberts went into a full-out dive when an errant pass looked destined to sail out-of-bounds with 8:30 left. He got enough of a hand on the ball to save it and, 10 seconds later, Langford buried a crucial 3.
So that was a turnover turned into a trey.
And Indiana, a team plagued by turnovers in recent games, finished with 13 Saturday – but made only two in the final 15 minutes, and none in the final 7:08.
Pardon showed off his superb footwork in the lane to beat the shot-clock for a bucket that put his team up by a point with 4:05 left – but that was the last time he would score.
"He's very skilled at finishing around the basket," IU's Justin Smith said of Pardon. "He made a lot of quick moves that I feel like caught whoever was guarding him off guard a little bit.
"And the way that they played, they left everybody off the baseline so it gives them a lot of room down low to be able to work and make a move and score the ball."
But even without Morgan patrolling the paint defensively for the final 3:30, the Hoosiers managed to shut Pardon down. IU 6-foot-10 junior Davis was a big reason why.
Not for the first time this season, Indiana's continued free throw woes looked potentially fatal in the closing minutes, but that didn't stop Smith from stepping up to hit both ends of a bonus to tie the game with 5:33 left.
The Hoosiers shot a robust .551 from the field and just found a way to do what needed done.
"For our guys to find a way to win a game in December, a conference game that's fought that hard, is a good thing," Miller said, "especially coming off a loss on Tuesday (at Duke).
"We go to Penn State on Tuesday and that's going to be very, very difficult. And I just can't imagine playing in this league in January and February. I just don't see a team that's not very good.
"So, for us, we've got one in the bag and we're happy about it, and we're going to try to get recovered and prepared the best we can and go on the road on Tuesday."
Smith is a sophomore, just entering his second conference campaign, but he already knows what is in store.
"This year the Big Ten … definitely has a lot of very good teams," Smith said. "Probably pretty much all the teams are very good, can win a game on any given night. It's going to be a dogfight every night, but we're ready for it."
They were Saturday.
They'll have to be throughout the entire Big Ten slate.
With 20 league games on tap per team this season, too, up from 18 in previous years.
Get used to it, Hoosier fans.
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